protean depravity

Well... There goes that hint of hope everything is going to be allright again. Berlin was doing so well after the initial COVID19 shutdown in the spring. We even tentatively started sticking our heads out of

When Marlon James jokingly termed the first book of his "Dark Star Trilogy", Black Leopard, Red Wolf , the "African Game of Thrones", little did he know that he could seriously share that title with C.T. Rwizi and his wonderful epic fantasy Scarlet Odyssey . Although no, stop! Let's not start the review of this brilliant debut with a comparison and create false hopes or expectations - there are no graphic scenes of sex and violence and not every man dies here; but there are plenty of intrigues, misfits on a mission and powerful magic games. Scarlet Odyssey is first and foremost an epic fantasy which borrows its cultural, folkloric and mythological elements from Africa. It is furthermore in both the description of administrative intrigues of a society and more importantly in the magic system that it demonstrates and excels in complexity, the latter probably being the most remarkable factor in this fascinating work.

Enjoy the new short reviews!

Treacherous mother, Hereditary (2018) Say farewell to Jack Torrance! It is now mothers who attack, betray, damage, make suffer and hurt with their absence in horror movies. I have watched three horror movies last weekend, “Becky”, “The Lodge” and “Come to Daddy” and ALL of them are marked by the absence of the mother – either because of a sad death, a tragic suicide or the physical absence on a father-son vacation. And that absence has devastating consequences. Is that a coincidence? For anyone who watched horror movies in the 80s and 90s the lack of parental authority is something not only familiar, but almost a prerequisite, but what about only the mother disappearing? Is that a thing in horror movies right now? A little research into the topicalization of mothers in horror shows that mothers are actually depicted so frequently in horror movies that it is safe to say they rule over the genre. Mothers have ALWAYS lived in the castle and their absence has frequently been the stuff of n...